In the SAP ecosystem, Core Data Services (CDS) views have emerged as a powerful framework for defining semantic layers on top of database tables. When combined with SAP HANA Live, CDS views become an essential tool not only for real-time analytics and reporting but also for data provisioning—the process of delivering well-structured, consistent data to downstream applications and systems.
This article explores how CDS views facilitate efficient and flexible data provisioning in SAP HANA Live landscapes, detailing their role, benefits, and best practices.
Data provisioning refers to the process of making data available from source systems to consumers—such as applications, data warehouses, or analytics platforms—in a timely and reliable manner. In SAP environments, data provisioning ensures that business processes and analytical scenarios operate on consistent, accurate data.
Traditionally, data provisioning involved ETL tools or custom data extraction jobs. CDS views provide a modern, streamlined alternative leveraging SAP HANA's in-memory capabilities.
CDS views serve as virtual data models that define semantically rich, reusable entities on top of raw database tables or other CDS views. This abstraction layer enables:
CDS views allow defining associations, calculations, and filters within the data model, delivering ready-to-use data sets tailored to business needs.
Annotations help describe how data should be exposed, formatted, or secured. For instance, they enable automatic OData service generation, making data easily consumable by external systems.
CDS views support parameters, allowing consumers to request specific data slices dynamically, enhancing flexibility and performance.
Models can be layered—basic views provide raw data, composite views add logic, and consumption views tailor data for specific scenarios.
Consider a business scenario where sales order data is required for both reporting dashboards and external CRM systems.
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: 'ZV_SALESORDER'
define view Z_CDS_SalesOrderBasic as select from sales_order
{
key sales_order_id,
order_date,
customer_id,
total_amount
}
@AbapCatalog.sqlViewName: 'ZV_SALESORDER_ENH'
define view Z_CDS_SalesOrderEnhanced as select from Z_CDS_SalesOrderBasic as sob
association [0..1] to customer as _Customer on sob.customer_id = _Customer.customer_id
{
sob.sales_order_id,
sob.order_date,
sob.total_amount,
_Customer.customer_name
}
By adding the annotation:
@OData.publish: true
The CDS view becomes available as an OData service, ready to be consumed by CRM or BI tools.
CDS views represent a next-generation approach to data provisioning within SAP HANA Live environments. Their ability to provide semantically rich, real-time, and reusable data models simplifies and accelerates the delivery of critical business data to diverse consumers.
Adopting CDS views for data provisioning empowers organizations to harness the full potential of their SAP data landscape—boosting agility, consistency, and performance in their analytics and operational processes.